Vietnam fails to hit international visitor target for 2022

Vietnam received over 3.36 million foreign visitors in 2022, according to a report from the General Statistics Office.

Vietnam received over 3.36 million foreign visitors in 2022, according to a report from the General Statistics Office (GSO).

Foreign visitors in HCM City

The figure was 23.30 percent higher than that of 2021, but represented a decrease of 79.90 percent compared to that of 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic happened, the report said.

And with this number, Vietnam failed to achieve the target of receiving five million foreign visitors in 2022.

This year, the country welcomed about 2.60 million tourists from Asia, 508,400 from Europe, 388,900 from the US, 156,600 from Oceania, and 11,500 from Africa.

The local tourism sector recovered this year, with over 101 million domestic tourists.

Local authorities claim the number of foreign visitors was down due to the Russia-Ukraine war, China's tight Covid-19 prevention policy, and rising inflation in Europe and the US which have affected the number of tourists coming from these markets.

Some experts however earmarked ungenerous visa policies as the main cause of the poor results.

The tourism sector has set a target of welcoming 110 million tourists including 8 million international visitors, with revenues of VND650 trillion (USD27.08 billion) in 2023.

Attending a recent meeting on post-Covid international tourism, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung urged the government to extend visa-free stays for foreign tourists to 30 days and to grant visa-on-arrival for international visitors at immigration.